Scatterday for the "V's" .....................

Well it has been a bit of an effort this week to find or discover enough relevant piccies. Finally I decided on a mosaic x9 of both new and old photo's.
Firstly the pinks ............I had to get our Zara into it so here she is in her pink VEST, then we have a pink VOLUME in the bookcase and Zara again with a pink VISOR on my Priscilla cap.
The girls and I did a 'drive by' shoot for the V SIGNS - these were all taken as we drove around the garage sales yesterday.
Then the huge - well I thought a lot about it from viaduct to vehicle and I couldn't be bothered to go out especially to source them. So I thought about other big V's and aha came up with these really huge V's from our European trip in 2004.
Firstly inside the VATICAN with it's huge ceilings - well worth getting up at 6am to be first in line to get in before the HUGE crowds.
Then VENICE - St Marks Cathedral with it's HUGE numbers of pidgeons and HUGE queues to get inside - I just stayed outside and photographed the pidgeons!
Then lastly the HUGE skyline of VIENNA, taken from the top of the HUGE Prater Wheel that we went on before we went off to dinner and a HUGE Viennese concert.
Phew - that's it for anoother week.
The kids have been here and I haven't been able to get to the computer - all gone home now and silence reigns.

All the "O's" ..............

Early entry for me this week.
Sweet thing - Oreo biccies in the supermarket.
The Oxford collection from my academic friend is what you would find in a library.
AND for Hawaiian - who remembers okinuis???
Mine are down at the van so can't photograph them but here are some modern ones.
I never did have the board to match them but did have the peroxided hair when I was a surfie chick down at Freshie beach.

The letter 'H' .............

Here are my offerings for Scatterdays this week.
The game is Hopscotch. I drew one on the driveway with the only chalk I could find which was a piece of tailers chalk - very poor effort so this photo is a Net one.
Then colour - a Hot Pink Hat from my lovely hat quilt made for me by my SCQIllawarra mates for my 6oth. And, the sharp pointy things - all sorts of Hooks - from crochet to fishing with an old button hook thrown in.

Off babysitting .....

No Scatterdays for me this week.
I'm off to watch Harry have his swimming lessons and to babysit while the kids (parents)go to a wedding.
I thought of scabies - but (thank goodness) non around at the moment and then stinging nettles - know where there are some but no time to go there.
S for strawberries of course!
And gold - well I have lots of that ...... NOT.
CU soon. Steph

Visitors to M&M's

We spent a couple of restful if not soggy days at North Durras this weekend.
Here are some of our new visitors who came to feed on the deck.
A lady satin bower bird - my story is that she was SO hungry because she was sitting on eggs. Well her feathers are a bit disturbed on her front and even tho usually they are really shy birds, she can right up onto the deck to feed. I love the 'pigeon - toes' and bright blue eyes!
The brown doves don't come often so it was nice to see one again.
Galahs we don't have often at all - this was a young one. We have noticed quite a few immature parrots over the last couple of visits - they are just beginning to head out in the big world.
The cheeky lorrikeets we always have with us. They hang from the roof to see what is happening - they are the big bosses and hunt everyone else away with a great fluttering of wings and lots of noise!
These handsome pigeons are known as "Baldies" - lovely aqua tipped feathers on their shoulders and rumps - they all push into the feeders one on top of the other.
They keep us amused with their antics.

Scatterday for the letter "I"

I had a bit of a thunk about this one and came up with these photos.
For yellow starting with "I" I have a yellow ICYPOLE - Zara's first one! of course made with natural pineapple juice - no sugar or preservatives for this one. How did our kids survive on the stuff we fed them? Lemonade icy poles were great - no stains!
Then something Australian. I thought for a bit and someone at morning tea at work came up with - Aussie ICONS - so here we have 3 Aussie icons - no explanation required.
Then of course something you would find in there air - INSECTS. Don't you love the fly? Took it last week as my aunt and I walked thru the bush at Durras to go fishing - it had a motza buzz I can tell you.
Posting early this week as I'm off to M&M's for some R&R - I am SOOOOOO relaxed these days only working two days a week. Well mostly. Cheers all, Steph

All the Z's

I'm late again. Oh well better than never as the saying goes.
Here are my Z's - I feel that I have an advantage with Princess Zara!
So we have, Zara, Zinnia's and Zucchini's!

Australia Day

Here are Trace and Zara today - Zara's first Australia Day.
Check out the video bar at the side to view Zara's first steps.
Hope you are having a great Aussie Day.

HAPPY AUSTRALIA DAY Scatterday for N

Seeing it's Australia Day you get an extra N - National Pride - Aussie Aussie Aussie!

Now down to the business of Scatterday.
For orange of course - my lovely nasturtiums - my favourite colours.
South American - well here started my geography lesson. I thought first off of Nacho's - but they are Mexican and classed as Northern American. Then I thought of Nicaragua but that's Central America.
Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm - so I thought I should check which countries constituted South American and aha Brazil! so here are some Brazil Nuts - phew that took some doing. And, last but not least - what's good for me but I don't like - well - who likes needles? Not me but when I have a severe migraine and I can't keep the medication down - needles are GOOD for me!

HAPPY AUSTRALIA DAY.

$4 well spent!

I bought this swing last weekend for $4.
Who needs to spend heaps of dollars to keep kids amused?
Zara had fun!

Scatterday for "U"

Well here are my photo's for this week.
I must admit to finding them a bit difficult really.
The street sign - well I checked the street directory for that one and drove by Uphill (which is uphill!)on the way to a ScqIllawarras sewing day which was fun. Great to catch up with friends and sew - tho I must admit some people can be "Miss Bossy Boots' - no not you Dawn!
Then cartoon character - I admit I had to go to the Net for Underdog! - but who is more of an underdog that my poor spotty girl when she had a wound on her shoulder a couple of months ago and had to wear a special collar 'bucket'!
Things people spend a lot of money on starting with U - I had trouble here - I don't spend much on my undies as you have already witnessed with the blue knickers so didn't fancy perhaps getting into stife for photographing expensive underwear. So what else costs a lot methinks - aha - Underground things - so here are some truffles that I photographed in Harrods - very expensive. I guess now when I check everyone elses' blogs I will find other stuff that I didn't even think of eh?
Let's see ...............

Got One!

The buy of the day!
It's a bit like Forrest really - you never know just what you're gonna get.
And this is what I got today at a garage sale for $50.
The label says it's 6 man but you would have to be lying pretty close together!
Anyhow - we put it up and it looks AOK as you can see.
All ready for holidays next year.
We needed two poles for the rear awning on the van and looked at KMart yesterday - they were $17.89 each and we decided to wait to see if we could get them cheaper.
Now today for an extra $1o dollars odd we have a whole new tent! Amazing.
I also sold the Swift today for $200 less than we paid for it 2 years ago so that's not too bad.
Now it's time for bed .....

Scatterday for "E"

Better late than never!



Here I am at last - catching up after our family holiday.
The letter E - I thought about this hard and came up with the following.
Aha I thought - white starting with E - of course an egg - went to the fridge - they were all brown. Grrr.
Then remembered a little egg I found outside under a tree and had brought in to show the kids a couple of week ago. Not quite so white now - AND - I didn't smell it - but it's close to white.
From the plant world - easy an Eriosteum - a native wax plant in our native garden out the front.
I thought long and hard about the 'terrifying thing'. I thought of 'empty' things and was hit with the brainwave of how terrifying it would be to get to the fabric shop - having a 50% off sale and to have an EMPTY wallet! LOL.
Do I pass?

Snippets of New Year 2008 at M&M's

We have started a new family tradition. New Years at M&M's.
We borrowed tents and set up a tent city on a vacant site opposite our van which was really convenient.
We had two single tents, a two man and a big Jackaroo 'family' tent and in all we had 8 adults, two boys (half grown)and the two babies.
While it was a bit of a squash, we accommodated the babies sleeping in shifts thru' the day in the van/annex where it was cooler. We put up the shade shelter we used to use with the camper at the front of the van, filled it up with chairs and tables and used that as a dining room / sitting area which worked well too.
I'm sure the whole park was watching Maureen and I setting this up - we went down a couple of days before the onslaught to set it all up - it was a bit of a marathon but - it will be easier next year - well maybe not - we'll be a year OLDER!
The weather was kind with a couple of showery nights and one day when it rained. The tents held out and no-one got wet so that was a blessing. We had had the roof of the annex looked at the week before and it too was watertight - thank you Craig! It's so nice not to have to strategically place buckets and eskies under drips - just in case it rained. I am told tho' that all vans leak somewhere!
We did most of our cooking on the deck with a combination of the BBQ and frypans etc and set up a temporary kitchen out there so that we didn't have to go inside for drinks and snacks and so didn't disturb the babies at rest times.
So, I'll be on the look out (at garage sales)for a nice big tent of our own for next year - 12 months to look eh?
We kennelled the dogs at Nowra so it was a bit easier without them. We were able to do some walking in the bush and fishing which we can't do with them around as it's National Park. Didn't catch any eatable sized fish but had some fun trying.
I took some nice photo's and got some family video so the next step will be doing a DVD of our first New Year at M&M's.
Back to work this week (have cut back to 2 days a week nice one!) and am catching up at home - next thing will be to take down the Christmas deco's and get the house back to normal.
Now I guess I have to think about Scatterdays for this week.
I'm a bit brain dead - hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm.

Christmas at 'the Rail' 2007

Here's a photographic 'history' of our Christmas 2007.
This is Zara's first Christmas so she features greatly. I hope to be able to add some of Harry later on. We went to Blue Haven where I work to see Santa on Christmas Eve. Zara wasn't too keen to meet the man in the red suit. It must be pretty scarey when all you can see is eyes!
We had a lovely family day on Christmas Day with nice cool weather to enjoy a baked dinner with all the trimmings.
Zara enjoyed her gifts and loved ripping off the wrapping paper and playing with the ribbons - she was the centre of attention for us all. It's marvellous how having a small child at the proceedings enhances the enjoyment of the adults looking on....
We are off to Durras for a 'staged' family gathering with Brad and his clan over the New Year period and we plan to set up a bit of a tent city on a site across from our
van.
Not too sure if I will get this weeks Scatterdays done before we go - am a bit brain dead for 'Y' - might have to get out the dictionary.
Happy New Year to all and I wish you a happy and healthy 2008.

It's almost Christmas and it's 'S' week

I'm late again but I have an excuse - it's almost Christmas!
I finished work on Thursday and have been getting organised at last.
I can smell the lingering aroma of Christmas cake and pudding that I baked today. It will be as appreciated as if it had been baked weeks ago - I hope!
Lee is home and doing lots of sleeping - she needs to 'catch up' she says.
Here are my Scatterday pics for this week.
My S for Christmas are the Surprises under the tree - I have quite a few cute Santa's but I though everyone else would have him too!
My beverage is Sangria. We discovered Sangria in Spain and loved it. It makes up like a wine punch of red wine, orange Fanta, fruit and sugar. We haven't tried the 'made up' bottle yet - perhaps tomorrow. I don't think it was the Sangria that had me doing the Chicken dance on the bus - I'm pretty sure that was Grappa! LOL
My S for medical is Stethescope. Christmas Bear is checking out the reindeers heartbeat :-)
I will be away next weekend (but will probably get to doing my mosaic before I go) - the family are all coming down to the van for a week or so - we will have a tent city! I am just hoping that it won't rain.
I wish all my fellow Scatterdaisies the compliments of the season and health and happiness for 2008.

Lucky me!

Look what I got today!
This is 'Hat's Off to Stephanie'. They know me well don't they?
Isn't it cool?!!!
A lovely 60th birthday gift from my ScqIllawarra mates.
I actually got together with them today after a few months of being elusive and not being able to attend meetings and what a lovely surprise!
Now to find just the right place for it to hang. Thinking thinking.....
A big thank you guys - I am really thrilled to bits.

Here's a new quilter in the making ...

Zara had a lovely time playing ladies at afternoon tea - saying hulloooo and waving along with lots of smiles and eye scrunches!
She also had fun sliding along on the shiney floor and checking out the colours on the bottom shelf of fabrics. I wonder if she is chosing for her first creation?



Mother and daughter - toning in well with the purples.
We had a lovely afternoon. Back to work tomorrow :-(

All the "D's" - late again. 16.12.07

Here we are at last!
It's been a busy weekend. A Chorus singout on Friday night and then 2 on Saturday - it's fun tho' as we go to shopping centres and functions etc to sing Christmas Carols.
Then Saturday afternoon down to the van to take down some stuff for New Year and organise to have the roof on the annex looked at - it leaks.
Well - it sure does leak as we discovered last night! We have an esky, a rolly bin and several buckets strategically placed under the drips - and of course the guy couldn't come and silicone it up in the rain could he?
Oh well home again this arvo and into some jobs here so it's all good.
Now for this weeks scatter D's. I have found this one a bit difficult but have finally decided.
For sewing - here is my sewing room a Disaster area! and I am working to a Deadline with the project I have just finished - phew - into the mail tomorrow - can't tell it's a secret :-)
Vehicle - here is DD's Damaged vehicle.
I got a text message while I was in Fiji - 'I have had an accident on the way to a wedding!'- Bit of a panic being so far away but luckily no-one was injured and the car is back on the road again $4500 later - thank goodness for insurance!
And, touchy feely starting with D - here is doggy Bailey - her ears are so soft and silky - definitely touchy feely!.
Now I am off to my bed - after I have a quick peak at what the categories are for next week.

Scatterdays for K and being on the other side of the sheets! 8.12.07

Well - here are some blue Knickers! A joy to behold eh? My neighbourhood K thing are the King Parrots watching me sew up a shade blind on the verandah of the van - my second neighbourhood! and dangerous - well I thought everyone would have knives or 'killer' things so here is King Kong - he was dangerous in the movie. This one I bought at a garage sale in Canberra and I was told he was bought at a fundraiser for 'Gorilla's in the Mist' - how's that for providence?

Now, here's my big whinge for the week - I missed my ScqIllawarra GTG today.
I think it was because of my over indulgence of eating out on Saturday. I had a Fishermans basket at the Bluegum - all fried and not very nice but I ate a good bit of it. Then there were some lovely profiteroles with fresh cream at the 80th birthday bash in Nowra.
I woke at 3.30am with 'chest' pain. Ended up getting dressed and leaving the motel about 4.30am and heading up to A&E at Shoalhaven hospital - just in case. My GP emphasised after I had a bout of chest pain about 6 months ago (and then a normal stress test) that I was not to take it lightly and that if I woke at night with pain not to write it off as indigestion. I said to the RN on duty - it's probably just indigestion and her comment was - "Oh yeah - I've heard that one before!"
Anyhow after a normal ECG and an examination by the doc, seems as tho I had a bout of biliary colic and maybe have gall stones :-(
I also now have a sore backside from a couple of injections! I do not like being 'on the other side of the sheets!'
Anyhow, I started to feel a bit better this arvo and will take the antibiotics and go off to the doc to organise an ultrasound etc and see what's happening.
What a drag.
Off to check everyone else's K's.

Scatterdays and News for 2.12.07

Here is my mosaic for this week - starts with M!
For my texture I chose dear Zara with a MUSHY banana - she had just fallen over and was being consoled by DD - food is a great reward!
My weapon - a MACHETE - it's really my old Fiji cane knife. Everthing was done with a cane knife in my day there. Now they have whippersnippers! but the old cane knife (machete) is still used to trim coconuts and do basic garden tasks and I saw lots of them in Savusavu.
The hobby - well who remembers MACRAME? I was a great doer in years gone by and here is a necklace that I bought from a Fijian lady at Savusavu airport on my way home. I found it difficult to find traditional 'island' crafts as most of the traders had beaded jewellery and things that we see here in Oz. I bought this necklace because of the shells and I eventually found some things made from coconut husks and fishbones - much more traditional. I have been busy this week getting my photos and video onto the computer to do up a DVD of the trip.
I decided this week that I wanted to drive around in something a bit more upmarket than my baby Suzuki Swift. I bought that little 3 cylinder job when I still had the camper and it was a great little runabout from here to Kiama but I was reluctant to tackle the trip to Sydney up Mt Ousley etc. So, I have lashed out and bought a car. I started off with trying a sporty Celica with sunroof etc but decided it would be too difficult to manage the car seat with the two door job - It was fun to drive tho. I looked about and tested a few different models and ended up with a good little Corolla.

This will do me. It's a 2001 model with only 103,000ks - looks a bit cool and is quite zippy to drive. Next thing is to swap over the plates and detail up Swifty and sell it.
Now I must away and work on the movie! I am getting quite adapt at voice overs and titles etc. It's fun.